China's Largest Chip IPO, CX Technology, to List on the Sci-Tech Innovation Board

After Moore Threads and Muxi, will there be any exciting IPOs on the A-share market in 2026?

The answer is— it's already here. An IPO larger than the combined total of Moore Threads and沐曦 (MoXi) is coming.

Recent news: ChangXin Technology's application for a Sci-Tech Innovation Board (STAR Market) IPO was accepted for review on December 30, 2025, and the submission process utilized a pre-review mechanism.

CXMT is the largest and most technologically advanced DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) chip company in mainland China, integrating research, design, and manufacturing.

What is the scale of ChangXin Technology's IPO?

The pre-IPO valuation of ChangXin Technology has already reached approximately 150 billion yuan. For comparison, the pre-IPO valuation of Moore Threads was 24.62 billion yuan before its Pre-IPO round, while that of Muxi was about 21.071 billion yuan. Combined, the valuations of these two companies amount to only a fraction of ChangXin Technology's valuation.

According to the logic that Moore Threads surged 400% on its first day of trading, and Muxi surged 692%, with both reaching market values of over 100 billion yuan, the market potential and positioning of Changxin Technology's industry track are even more promising than these two companies, suggesting an even greater valuation potential. In this heated market environment, will Changxin Technology's IPO this time achieve a trillion-yuan valuation?

According to the proposed fundraising amount, ChangXin Technology is raising 29.5 billion yuan. This amount ranks as the second-largest IPO in terms of fundraising since the establishment of the STAR Market. The largest was SMIC, which raised approximately 53.23 billion yuan at the time, and in September 2025, its market value briefly exceeded 100 billion yuan.

A feast of wealth is coming in a relay-race fashion, and the IPO of ChangXin Technology may push the market to another peak.

Longxintech was founded in 2016. According to its prospectus, the company's registered capital is as high as 60.19 billion yuan, with a shareholder list comprising 60 entities. During its development, there have been eight changes in shareholders, and three major financing rounds have taken place.

In 2020, ChangXin Technology completed a massive Series A round of financing amounting to 15.65 billion yuan in one go, causing a major stir in the market. The round attracted more than ten investors, including several beyond Hefei's state-owned capital, such as China Merchants Securities, TCL Industrial Investment, CCB International, China Life Investment, PICC Capital, China Merchants Zhiyuan Capital, ADBC Investment, CMB International Capital, Xiaomi Yangtze River Industrial Fund, Junhe Capital, CICC Capital, the National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund, PRO Capital, and Haitong Kaiyuan.

In 2022, ChangXin Technology completed another round of C+ financing, raising 8.39 billion yuan, with a post-investment valuation of 107.789 billion yuan. This round of financing also attracted a series of non-Hefei state-owned capital investors, including Tencent Investment, Walden International, Alibaba, China Post Insurance, Hexie Health, Orient Asset Management, Weixing Group, Junhe Capital, Shenzhen Investment & Control, Qianhai Mother Fund, Greater Bay Area Common Home Development Fund, Shumujia Fund, and Sunshine Insurance.

In March 2024, ChangXin Technology completed a 10.8 billion yuan financing round, with a post-investment valuation of approximately 150 billion yuan. In addition to GigaDevice's investment of 1.5 billion yuan, multiple investors participated, including Hefei Changxin Integrated Circuit Co., Ltd., Hefei Industrial Investment No. 1 Equity Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership), and Construction Bank Credit Investment Co., Ltd.

Whether it's 15.6 billion, 8.39 billion, or 10.8 billion yuan, each round of financing by ChangXin Technology is comparable to the fundraising amount of a unicorn company's IPO.

The shareholders behind ChangXin Technology form an "all-star" list, covering state-level institutions, market-oriented VC/PE firms, industry giants, and financial institutions. Among them, state-owned shareholders collectively hold more than 36% of the shares, and there is no actual controlling party.

Why is ChangXin Technology valued so highly?

As the largest and most technologically advanced DRAM IDM company in mainland China, ChangXin Technology has become the fourth-largest DRAM manufacturer globally. It has broken the decades-long "triopoly" dominated by Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron.

Especially, it has already captured a key market share. Its DDR4 products accounted for about 5% of the global market in 2024 and are expected to continue increasing. In the semiconductor industry, which is a "winner-takes-all" sector, a breakthrough market share from 0 to 1 is extremely valuable.

More significantly, the massive investment has started to bear fruit, and ChangXin Technology is gradually emerging from its losses.

In 2022, 2023, and 2024, the company's net profits attributable to shareholders were -8.98 billion yuan, -6.901 billion yuan, and -5.526 billion yuan, respectively. However, according to the latest forecast, the company is expected to achieve a historic profit inflection point in 2025, with annual net profits projected to range between 2 billion and 3.5 billion yuan.

The revenue scale behind this is growing explosively: revenue reached 24.178 billion yuan in 2024, and is expected to jump to 55-58 billion yuan in 2025, achieving more than double the growth. This growth rate is rare even among global capital-intensive semiconductor companies.

At the same time, ChangXin Technology's IPO coincided with another favorable trend: the industry's "strongest ever" price-increase cycle.

At the beginning of 2026, due to the surge in demand for AI servers, global DRAM giants plan to significantly raise prices by 60% to 70%, pushing the industry into a strong growth cycle. As a major supplier, ChangXin Technology will directly benefit from the increase in both volume and prices.

There have been relevant reports that DRAM is transforming into the "electronic Moutai" (a reference to a highly valuable and sought-after product), with its price changing "day by day" after the beginning of the Chinese New Year. Within the industry, it is described as: "If you purchase 100 sticks at one time and put them in a box, they would be worth 4 million yuan, exceeding the value of many properties in Shanghai."

The core driving force behind the price surge lies in the exponential growth in demand for high-bandwidth memory and standard DDR5 memory from AI servers, while global production capacity expansion remains limited. Industry analysis indicates that the DRAM capacity of a high-end AI server is 8 to 10 times that of a regular server.

Today, ChangXin Technology has successfully developed the LPDDR5L series products, enabling it to stand at the forefront of this wave.

In summary, the valuation of ChangXin Technology encompasses not only the market's imagination and potential but also reflects investors' deep expectations for the self-reliance of China's semiconductor industry.

To trace its roots, the origin of Changxin Technology can be attributed to Zhu Yiming, a prominent figure from Yancheng.

Zhu Yiming was born in Yancheng, Jiangsu in 1972. He earned a bachelor's and a master's degree in Modern Applied Physics from Tsinghua University, followed by a master's degree in Electrical Engineering from Stony Brook University, part of the State University of New York. This educational background provided him with a solid foundation in physics and engineering.

During his time in the United States, he worked as an engineer at the semiconductor company iPolicy Networks, gaining first-hand experience of the chip innovation ecosystem in Silicon Valley. This experience gave him a deep understanding of the core logic of the semiconductor industry: technology-driven development, global competition, and a winner-takes-all dynamic.

Zhu Yiming climbed two major mountains. The first one was Macronix Innovation.

In 2005, Zhu Yiming returned to China with his technology and dreams, and founded GigaDevice (now known as GigaChips) in the Tsinghua Science Park in Beijing, which became the predecessor of GigaChips Innovation.

He avoided the fiercely competitive "red ocean" markets dominated by giants, such as CPUs and memory, and instead chose the NOR Flash (code storage flash) sector, which had a smaller market size but was growing rapidly. This was a key chip used in devices like mobile phones and DVDs for storing and launching code.

Starting a business is never easy, and the company once stood on the brink of a cash flow crisis. A turning point came in 2008, when he led his team to successfully develop China's first Serial NOR Flash chip, whose performance rivaled that of international giants, thus opening up the market. A venture capitalist who invested early on later recalled, "At that time, he was holding a demo board, and there was a spark in his eyes."

With continuous technological innovation and market expansion, GigaDevice successfully listed on the Shanghai Main Board in 2016 and has gradually grown into one of the world's top three NOR Flash suppliers.

But he did not stop there. When GigaDevice was at the height of its success, Zhu Yiming made a shocking decision to the industry: to embark on a second entrepreneurial journey and tackle DRAM, a market dominated by three global giants. This is the most capital-intensive, technically complex, and high-risk "uncharted territory" in the semiconductor industry.

The "All-in" decision took place in 2016. He gradually stepped back from the day-to-day management of GigaDevice and devoted all his energy to his new project, ChangXin Technology. To demonstrate his determination, he publicly pledged that he would not receive any salary or bonuses until ChangXin Technology became profitable. This vow carried a strong sense of "burning one's boats"—a commitment to success or nothing.

Zhu Yiming's technical strategy is also clever. Faced with strict technical patent barriers, Changxin Technology legally purchased thousands of technical patents left behind by the bankrupt German company Qimonda. Based on these patents, the company conducted in-depth research and innovation. This approach not only avoided patent traps but also provided a valuable starting point for technological development.

The breakthrough from 0 to 1 occurred in September 2019, when ChangXin announced the mass production of its first 10nm-class (19nm) DDR4 memory chips, marking mainland China's first major achievement in the field of DRAM.

This moment is etched in the memories of countless industry professionals.

Having successfully scaled two major peaks in the semiconductor industry, Zhu Yiming has become a prominent figure. In the field of hard technology, top-tier technical insight, steadfast strategic patience, and the responsibility to tie personal credibility to grand endeavors are more valuable and scarce resources than short-term commercial profits. This is also the most compelling chapter in the story of the people behind Changxin Technology's valuation of tens of billions.

In fact, behind the rise of ChangXin Technology, in addition to a leader like Zhu Yiming, there is also a bold venture capitalist—the Hefei Municipal Government.

The project's launch required a significant amount of capital. At a critical moment, the Hefei Municipal Government demonstrated remarkable strategic vision by agreeing to contribute three-fourths of the startup funds, approximately 13.5 billion yuan. GigaDevice Innovation contributed the remaining one-fourth.

In effect, the Hefei municipal government took on the highest "risk of failure" in the early stage, allowing the team led by Zhu Yiming to launch this massive project requiring hundreds of billions of yuan in funding and years before any results could be expected, despite having almost no foundation in technology, patents, or talent. Without this initial step, there would have been no possibility of subsequent participation by private capital.

According to the data in the prospectus, multiple Hefei municipal government funds have directly invested in Changxin Technology. These include: Hefei Changxin Integrated Circuit Co., Ltd., a state-owned enterprise under the Hefei municipal government, holding 11.71% of shares; Hefei CPT No. 1 Equity Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership), a fund under Hefei CPT, holding 1.85% of shares; Hefei Jianchang Equity Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership), a fund under Hefei Jian Tou, holding 1.50% of shares; and Hefei CPT High-Growth No. 1 Equity Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership), also a fund under Hefei CPT, holding 0.06% of shares.

Hefei also holds a 21.67% stake through its major shareholder, "Hefei Qinghui Jidian Enterprise Management Partnership," an indirectly held company. Qinghui Jidian is entirely controlled by Hefei's state-owned asset system (through Hefei Industrial Investment and Changxin Integration), and therefore, this stake should be fully counted as part of Hefei's state-owned equity. In addition, Anhui Investment Group Holding Co., Ltd. holds a 7.91% share.

In summary, the Hefei municipal government is the largest capital backer behind ChangXin Technology.

Behind Hefei's big bet, there are two considerations.

First, a high recognition of Zhu Yiming's personal integrity, technical judgment, and execution capabilities. A senior official from Hefei Industrial Investment stated, "We are investing in Zhu Yiming himself and the potential he represents."

Second, just like with BOE and NIO, the goal of the "Hefei model" has never been to nurture individual companies, but rather to build globally competitive industrial clusters.

Taking ChangXin Technology as the "chain leader," Hefei has systematically introduced and cultivated upstream and downstream supporting enterprises in the local area and its surrounding regions, including materials, equipment, packaging, and testing companies such as Zhipure Technology and Jiangfeng Electronics.

In addition, there is also collaboration. For example, in 2023, Hefei established the Anhui New-Generation Information Technology Industry Fund. This industry fund, with a total scale of 30 billion yuan, operates under a master-subsidiary fund structure. The master fund has a minimum size of 12.5 billion yuan, and its fund manager is ChangXin CVC—ChangXin Xinpai. The master fund has already contributed 1.285 billion yuan to Haiheng Emerging Industry Fund under Hefei Economic and Technological Development Zone, in support of new-generation information technology and future industry projects in the region.

A landmark collaboration is the establishment of the "Hefei Qihang Hengxin Fund." Managed by Qihang Xinrui, a private equity fund management company under Changxin Technology, the fund has a total size of 1.0625 billion yuan. The list of investors represents a microcosm of the "Changxin ecosystem": it includes core suppliers such as Guanggang Gas and Shanghai Xinyang, government-backed capital such as the Anhui Province New Generation Information Technology Industry Fund and Hefei Industrial Investment, as well as financial institutions like Guoyuan Securities. This indicates that Changxin Technology is not only a manufacturing company, but also an industry organizer.

As can be seen, ChangXin Technology, as a leader in the industry, is fostering Hefei through its industry insight and capital influence, jointly building a highly competitive semiconductor industry chain.

From the perspective of Hefei's development blueprint, Changxin Technology is another benchmark case where the Hefei government, following BOE and NIO, has taken the lead in providing initial funding to nurture a leading player in its industry.